Galaxy Note7

Introduction

The key element for a great Smartphone
has always been a truly innovative and top performing display, and the best
leading edge Smartphones have always flaunted their super high tech displays.
It is the display performance that determines how good and how beautiful
everything on the Smartphone looks, including camera photos, and also how
readable and how usable the screen is in high ambient lighting. The display is
the crown jewel of the Smartphone!

The Galaxy Note7 is Samsung’s newest flagship Smartphone with their most
advanced flexible OLED display that provides a unique dual-edge curved screen. The Galaxy Note series and Galaxy S series are how they show off their latest and greatest
OLED displays and display technology. Samsung has been alternately releasing
one of these models every six months, so there are two OLED generations per
year. Every new OLED generation has provided significant enhancements and
improvements, so they have improved rapidly and regularly leapfrog each other
in display performance. As a result, OLEDs have developed into excellent
Smartphone displays that now outperform the best LCD Smartphones. There is no
better confirmation of the OLED performance lead than a series of well founded
rumors from a number of prominent publications that Apple will be switching the
iPhone to OLED displays in 2017.

Last year’s 2015 Galaxy
Note model was called the Note5, but the new 2016 model is called the Note7.
The skip to Note7 is meant to synchronize product names with the 2016 Galaxy S7
that launched in February. But the Galaxy Note series generally takes the lead
in introducing new display technology, with the Galaxy S then enhancing it and
adding additional features and functions. So the
future Galaxy S8 will likely inherit the major display enhancements being
introduced on the Galaxy Note7 (with a smaller screen size and significantly
higher pixels per inch). Since the Note series generally leads in display
technology, the Note7 should really have been
called the Note8 so that its name will be in better sync with the future Galaxy
S8.

Overview and What’s New

The Galaxy Note7 provides many major and important state-of-the-art
display enhancements, with mobile OLED display technology now advancing faster
than ever. It is the most innovative and high performance Smartphone display
that we have ever tested. The Galaxy Note7 has the following
state-of-the-art display performance features:

· A curved
screen OLED display that is manufactured on a
flexible plastic substrate so that it can bend around corners on both sides of
the phone to provide two curved edge display areas that can be viewed and
controlled from both the front or the sides. The curved screen was available as
an upgrade from a flat screen in earlier Note models – now everyone gets a
curved screen.

· 4 Display Screen Modes and Color
Gamuts.

· A new wide DCI-P3 Color Gamut and Digital Cinema mode that is used on 4K Ultra HD TVs, so the Galaxy Note7
can display the latest high-end 4K video content. The DCI-P3 Gamut is 26
percent larger than the Rec.709 Gamut that is used for 2K Full HD TVs.

· A new HDR High Dynamic Range video mode that is used on 4K Ultra HD TVs, plus aVideo Enhancer that provides HDR-like Expanded
Dynamic Range for all videos that don’t have HDR coding.

· A new record high Peak Brightness
of over of 1,000 nits, which improves screen visibility in very high Ambient
Light, and provides the very high screen Brightness needed for HDR.

· The first Smartphone to have both front and back Dual Ambient Light Sensors for significantly improved
Automatic Brightness.

· A new Blue Light Filter mode
that allows the user to adjust and reduce the amount of blue light from the
display for better night viewing.

· A new and even stronger curved Gorilla
Glass 5 protecting the display.

· The Always On Display mode and
Personalized Auto Brightness Control that were
first introduced on the Galaxy S7.

· A very high
resolution 2560x1440 Quad HD display with very high 518 pixels per inch, and
Diamond Pixels with Sub-Pixel Rendering.

We’ll cover all of the these display performance issues and much more,
with in-depth comprehensive display tests, measurements and analysis that you
will find nowhere else.

The Display Shoot-Out

To examine the
performance of the new Galaxy Note7 OLED Display
we ran our in-depth series of Mobile
Display Technology Shoot-Out Lab tests and measurements in order to
determine how the latest OLED displays have improved. We take display quality
very seriously and provide in-depth objective analysis based on detailed
laboratory tests and measurements and extensive viewing tests with both test
patterns, test images and test photos. To see how far OLED and LCD mobile
displays have progressed in just six years see our 2010 Smartphone
Display Shoot-Out, and for a real history lesson see our original 2006 Smartphone Display
Shoot-Out.

Samsung provided
DisplayMate Technologies with pre-release production units of the Galaxy Note7
so that we could perform our well known objective and comprehensive DisplayMate
Lab tests, measurements, and analysis, explaining in-depth the new display
performance results for consumers, reviewers, and journalists as early as
possible.

This Results Highlights
section has detailed background and analysis information on the Galaxy Note7
display.

You can skip the Results
Highlights and go directly to the Galaxy
Note7 Conclusions for a more brief performance summary and analysis.

Systematically Improving OLED
Displays

Samsung has been systematically improving OLED display
performance twice a year with each Galaxy generation since 2010. With the Galaxy Note7 there are many significant improvements
over the Galaxy
Note5 that we tested a year ago, but also with the Galaxy S7 that
we tested 6 months ago, which we will cover in detail below.

2.5K Quad HD 2560x1440
Display

The Galaxy Note7 has a
5.7 inch Quad HD 2560x1440 pixel display, currently the highest resolution for
Smartphones, with 3.7 Mega Pixels, almost double the number on your HDTV. It
provides lots of image detail – it can display four complete HD 1280x720 images
at once. The display has Diamond Pixels (see
below) and Sub-Pixel Rendering with 518 pixels per inch (ppi), providing
significantly higher image sharpness than can be resolved with normal 20/20
Vision at the typical viewing distances of 10 inches or more for Smartphones,
so the display appears perfectly sharp.

The Galaxy Note7 uses Sub-Pixel Rendering, which further
improves image sharpness because the individual Red, Green and Blue Sub-Pixels
are treated as independent addressable image elements and are not bound
together into fixed Pixels, so the closest sub-pixel is used when rendering the
image. In some cases Sub-Pixel Rendering can make the screen appear to have up
to 3 times the resolution of traditional Pixel Rendering. As a result, for Smartphones it is absolutely pointless to
further increase the display resolution and pixels per inch (ppi) up to 4K
(3940x2160 pixels) for a silly marketing wild goose chase into the
stratosphere…

Multiple Screen Modes and
Color Management

One very important capability of
the Galaxy Smartphones that is often overlooked by many consumers and
reviewers, is the set of user selectable Screen Modes that are available under
Display Settings. Most Smartphones and Tablets only provide a single
fixed factory display Color Gamut and color calibration, with no way for the
user to alter it based on personal preferences, running applications, or
Ambient Light levels. A very important capability provided by the OLED Galaxy
Smartphones is the implementation of Color Management that provides a number of
user selectable Screen Modes, each with different Color Gamuts and levels of
Color Saturation and display calibration based on user and application
preferences. Color Management with multiple and varying
Color Gamuts are a very useful and important state-of-the-art capability that
all manufacturers will need to provide in the future.

Four Selectable Screen Modes
and Color Gamuts

The Galaxy Note7 has four user selectable Screen Modes: Adaptive Display, AMOLED
Cinema, AMOLED Photo, and the Basic Screen Mode, which matches the Standard sRGB /
Rec.709 Color Gamut that is used for producing most current consumer content.
See this Figure for the
Color Gamuts of the different tested Screen Modes and the Colors
and Intensities section for measurements and details. Note that the Adaptive Display mode is the standard and
factory default Screen Mode. Use Display Settings to switch between the other
available Screen Modes.We discuss each
of the four tested Screen Modes next…

Absolute Color Accuracy for
Each of the Screen Modes

For each of the Screen Modes we carefully measure the Absolute Color Accuracy using an advanced series of
spectroradiometer measurements with 41 Reference
Colors that provide a detailed map of the Color Accuracy throughout the
entire Color Gamut for each Screen Mode.

Absolute Color Accuracy is measured in terms of Just Noticeable
Color Differences,
JNCD. See this Figure for an explanation
and visual definition of JNCD and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots
showing the measured Color Errors for the 41 Reference
Colors for each Color Gamut. For all of the calibrated Screen Modes, the
Galaxy Note7 has uniformly Very Good to Excellent
Absolute Color Accuracy. See our detailed Absolute Color Accuracy Plots
with 41 Reference Colors for the 3 calibrated
screen Modes and also this regarding Bogus Color Accuracy
Measurements.

New AMOLED Cinema Screen Mode with a Very Accurate Standard
DCI-P3 Color Gamut

The Galaxy Note7 has the newest Standard Wide Color Gamut
called DCI-P3 for Digital Cinema Initiative,
which is being used in 4K Ultra HD TVs and in Digital Cinema for the movie
industry. So the Galaxy Note7 can display the latest high-end 4K video content.
The DCI-P3 Gamut is 26 percent larger than the Rec.709 Gamut for 2K Full HD
TVs, both are compared in this accurately colorized Figure.
The larger DCI-P3 Color Gamut and wider range of more saturated colors are also
useful in many advanced imaging applications, and for providing an Expanded Dynamic Range (below). The measured Color
Gamut of the AMOLED Cinema screen mode is a very accurate 97 percent of the
Standard DCI-P3 Color Gamut, and the measured Absolute Color Accuracy is a very
accurate 2.8 JNCD, which
is very likely considerably better than your living room 4K Ultra HD TV.See the Color
Accuracy section and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots for
measurements and details. Select the AMOLED Cinema
screen mode using Display Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the
Galaxy Note7.

Most high-end digital cameras have an option to use the
Adobe RGB Color Gamut, which is 17 percent larger than the Standard sRGB /
Rec.709 Color Gamut used in consumer cameras. The AMOLED
Photo screen mode on the Galaxy Note7 provides a very accurate
calibration to the Adobe RGB standard, which is rarely available in consumers
displays, and is very useful for high-end digital photography and other
advanced imaging applications. The measured Color Gamut of the AMOLED Photo
screen mode is a very accurate 100 percent of the Standard Adobe RGB Color Gamut,
and the measured Absolute Color Accuracy is a very accurate 3.2 JNCD. See the Color
Accuracy section and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots for
measurements and details. Select the AMOLED Photo
screen mode using Display Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the
Galaxy Note7.

The Basic screen mode
provides a very accurate Color and White Point calibration for the Standard
sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut that is used to produce most current consumer
content for digital cameras, TVs, the internet, and computers, including
photos, videos, and movies. The measured Color Gamut of the Basic screen mode
is a very accurate 104 percent of the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut, and
the measured Absolute Color Accuracy is a very accurate 2.9 JNCD, which is very likely
considerably better than your living room HD TV and also your laptop and
computer monitor.

Use the Basic screen mode for the best color and image
accuracy for most current consumer content, which is especially important when
viewing photos from family and friends (because you often know exactly what
they actually should look like), for some TV shows, movies, and sporting events
with image content and colors that you are familiar with, and also for viewing
online merchandise, so you have a very good idea of exactly what colors you are
buying and are less likely to return them. See the Color
Accuracy section and the detailed Color Accuracy Plots for
measurements and details. Select the Basic screen mode
using Display Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the Galaxy
Note7.

Adaptive Display Screen Mode
with the Largest Color Gamut

The Adaptive Display screen mode
provides real-time adaptive processing to dynamically adjust images and videos
– for some applications it will vary the White Point, Color Gamut, and Color
Saturation based on the image content and the color of the surrounding ambient
lighting measured by the Ambient Light Sensor (which measures color in addition
to brightness). The Adaptive Display mode also delivers significantly higher
Color Saturation, with a large 132 percent of
the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut, among the highest that we have ever
measured for Smartphones and Tablets. Some people like the extra saturated and
vibrant colors, plus it is useful for special applications, and for viewing the
display in medium to high levels of Ambient Light, because it offsets some of
the reflected light glare that washes out the on-screen image colors. See the Color
Accuracy section for measurements and details. Select
the Adaptive Display screen mode using Display Settings – it is the factory
default screen mode for the Galaxy Note7.

Screen Brightness and
Performance in High Ambient Lighting

Mobile displays are often used under relatively bright
ambient lighting, which washes out the image color saturation and contrast,
reducing picture quality and making it harder to view or read the screen. To be
usable in high ambient light a display needs a dual combination of high Screen
Brightness and low screen Reflectance – the Galaxy Note7 has both. For most
image content the Galaxy Note7 provides over 480 cd/m2
(Luminance, which is a measure of Brightness sometimes called nits), comparable
or higher than most LCD displays in this size class. The measured Brightness on
the Home screen is even higher at over 520 nits.

The Galaxy Note7 Screen
Reflectance is 4.6 percent, close to the lowest that we have ever
measured for a Smartphone. Our Contrast Rating for
High Ambient Light quantitatively measures screen visibility and image
contrast under bright Ambient Lighting – the higher the better. As a result of
its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the Galaxy Note7 has a Contrast Rating
for High Ambient Light that ranges from 89 to 139,
among the highest that we have ever measured for a Smartphone.

Even Higher Automatic Peak
Brightness

On the Galaxy Note7 the
Maximum Screen Brightness can go much higher when Automatic
Brightness is turned On, so that users can’t permanently park the Manual
Brightness slider to very high values, which would run down the battery
quickly. High Screen Brightness is only needed for
High Ambient Light, so turning Automatic Brightness On will provide
better high ambient light screen visibility and also longer battery running
time.

When Automatic Brightness
is turned On, the Galaxy Note7 produces up to an impressive 1,048 cd/m2 (nits) in High Ambient Light,
where high Brightness is really needed – it is the
brightest Smartphone display that we have ever tested. As a result of
its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the Galaxy Note7 has a Contrast Rating
for High Ambient Light that ranges from 124 to 228,
also the highest that we have ever measured for a
Smartphone display. See the Brightness
and Contrast, the High
Ambient Light and the Screen
Reflections sections for measurements and details. The much higher Peak
Brightness of over 1,000 nits is also used to provide High Dynamic Range HDR,
which we discuss next...

New HDR High Dynamic Range for Mobile Videos

High Dynamic Range
(HDR) is the newest performance enhancement feature developed for the latest 4K
Ultra HD TVs. HDR expands the Color, Contrast, and Brightness of video content
using an image processor engine. In order to provide HDR, the Galaxy Note7 has
the required Digital Cinema DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut, plus perfect Blacks and an
Infinite Contrast Ratio from its OLED display, and a peak Brightness of over
1,000 nits that is needed for High Dynamic Range. The Galaxy Note7 can play the
latest streamed mobile HDR videos, and its built-in video processor also allows
it to provide an Expanded Dynamic Range for
standard video content that produces an HDR-like effect.

New Front and Back Dual
Ambient Light Sensors for Improved Automatic Brightness Settings

Other Smartphones and
Tablets have just a single Ambient Light Sensor on the front of the screen that
measures the amount of light falling on the front of the screen. When Automatic
Brightness is turned On, the display Brightness is adjusted based on this
single measured value. But that is only part of the story because the phone is
often in the shadow of your head, so the front light level is therefore often
lower there. However, your eyes are generally more adapted to the surrounding
ambient light level that is behind and around the phone, which needs to be
taken into account in setting the proper screen Brightness, particularly with
the most common back lighting situations that exist when holding the phone.

I proposed dual Ambient
Light Sensors back in 2010, with an article
that described “How Automatic Brightness Should Work.”
The Galaxy Note7 is the first Smartphone to have a second Ambient Light Sensor
on the back that also measures the surrounding ambient light behind the phone
and then uses both measured values to adjust the Brightness based on the front
and back lighting. The Galaxy Note7 Automatic Brightness Control has also been
enhanced to provide improved response and transition times with changing
ambient light levels to give your eyes more time to adjust to the new levels.

Interactive Personalized
Automatic Brightness Control that Works Well

The Galaxy Note7 has a
interactive Personalized Automatic Brightness Control
that learns and stores the display brightness settings that you make for
varying ambient light levels, so from then on you get your own customized
personal visual brightness preferences instead of some pre-programmed
manufacturer settings found in other Smartphones, Tablets, and TVs. I proposed
this back in 2010, with an article
that described “How Automatic Brightness Should Work.”
The Galaxy Note7 and Galaxy S7 are the first Smartphones, Tablets, or TVs to do
Automatic Brightness correctly.

When Automatic
Brightness is turned On (under Display Settings), if you adjust the Brightness
Slider, the Galaxy Note7 will remember your setting along with the current
ambient light level that is measured by its Ambient Light Sensors (ALS). From
then on the Galaxy Note7 will automatically adjust the screen Brightness by
measuring the current ambient light level and then adjusting the screen
Brightness based on the settings you’ve previously made, so you’ll get a
customized screen Brightness setting that you’ve previously trained it to produce
for the current level of ambient light – and you can continue to tweak and
adjust it as needed.

New Blue Light Filter for Better Night Viewing

The Blue Light Filter mode on the Galaxy Note7 is
designed to change the color balance of the display in order to reduce the
amount of Blue light produced by the display, which some recent research
indicates can affect how well users sleep afterwards. In a separate article we have
explained and analyzed the Blue Light issue for displays. The Galaxy Note7
includes a user adjustable slider (Filter Opacity) to vary the amount of Blue
light produced by the display and a timer that allows the Blue Light Filter to
be turned on and off automatically every day. The variation in the light
spectrum with the adjustable Blue Light Filter is shown in this Figure.

As the Blue Light
Filter Opacity setting is increased, the amount of Blue light emitted by the
display decreases. When that happens, White and all screen colors take on an
increasing yellowish tint and color cast. At the Middle setting the White Color
Temperature decreases to 4,400K, and at the Maximum setting down to 2,400K, the
Color Temperature of traditional incandescent lighting, which is yellowish.
With the Blue Light Filter turned On and the Opacity at its Maximum setting,
the Blue Light component from the Galaxy Note7 is reduced by 80 percent.
Turning down the screen Brightness will further decrease the amount of Blue
Light.

Super Dimming Mode

The Galaxy Note7 also has a Super
Dimming Mode that allows the Maximum Screen Brightness to be set all the
way down to just 2 cd/m2 (nits)
using the Brightness Slider. This is perfect for night use on a beside table,
and useful for working comfortably without eye strain or bothering others in
very dark environments, or affecting the eye’s dark adaptation, such as when
using a telescope. The display still delivers full 24-bit color and the picture
quality remains excellent.

Always On Display Mode

The Galaxy Note7 has an Always
On Display mode that takes advantage of the low power capability of an
OLED display whenever most of the image pixels are black, because every
sub-pixel is independently powered, and therefore doesn’t use any power when
black. So when the phone is off (in standby) it is possible to always display
some text and graphics on a black background all day and all night without a
significant power drain that would reduce the battery running time. The Always
On Display mode uses only 50 to 100 mW (milli-Watts).

The Always On Display on the Galaxy Note7 shows various personalized clock,
calendar, status messages, notifications, and images on the main screen when
the phone is in standby. It measures the ambient light level and has both day
and night modes, and it will stay off when the phone display is face down, or
it senses a dark confined space like a pocket or handbag. The display is
updated once a minute for both content and brightness. The day mode has a
Luminance of 50 cd/m2 (nits) on a
black background, which is very readable but not distracting for normal indoor
ambient lighting, and visible outdoors if you shade the screen with your hand.
The night mode is entered for very low ambient light levels of 2 lux or less
and runs like the Super Dimming Mode with 2 nits, so it won’t distract you if
it’s on your bedside table.

Diamond Pixels

A
high resolution screen shot (provided by Samsung) shows an interesting
design and sub-pixel arrangement for the Galaxy Note7, which Samsung calls Diamond
Pixels. First of all, the Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixels have very
different sizes – Blue is by far the largest because it has the lowest light
emission efficiency, and Green is by far the smallest because it has the
highest efficiency. The alternating Red and Blue sub-pixel arrangement leads to
a 45 degree diagonal symmetry in the sub-pixel layout. This allows vertical,
horizontal, and particularly diagonal line segments and vectors to be drawn
with reduced aliasing and artifacts. In order to maximize the sub-pixel packing
and achieve the highest possible pixels per inch (ppi), that leads to diamond
rather than square or stripe shaped Red and Blue sub-pixels. But not for the
Green sub-pixels, which are oval shaped because they are squeezed between two
much larger and different sized Red and Blue sub-pixels. It’s a form of
high-tech display art…

Display Power Efficiency

Since 2013 the Power Efficiency of the Galaxy Note and
Galaxy S series of Smartphones has improved by a very impressive 56%. However,
this year the Power Efficiency has remained the same between the Galaxy Note5,
Galaxy S7, and Galaxy Note7.

While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with
mostly full screen white content (like all text screens on a white background,
for example), OLEDs are more power efficient for typical mixed image content
because they are emissive displays so their power varies with the Average
Picture Level (average Brightness) of the image content over the entire screen.
For OLEDs, Black pixels and sub-pixels don’t use any power so screens with
Black or dark backgrounds are very power efficient for OLEDs. For LCDs the
display power is fixed and independent of image content. Currently, OLED
displays are more power efficient than LCDs for Average Pictures Levels of 65
percent or less, and LCDs are more power efficient for Average Picture Levels above
65 percent. Since both technologies are continuing to improve their power
efficiencies, the crossover will continue to change with time.

The Always On Display is
super power efficient because most of the image pixels are black, so it
typically requires only 3 to 5 percent of the maximum display power. In
addition, the Galaxy Note7 also has an Ultra Power Saving Mode that lowers the
screen Brightness and also sets the background to Black, both of which
significantly reduce display power and can double the running time on battery.
See the Display
Power section for measurements and details.

Viewing Angle Performance

While Smartphones are
primarily single viewer devices, the variation in display performance with
viewing angle is still very important because single viewers frequently hold
the display at a variety of viewing angles. The angle is often up to 30
degrees, more if it is resting on a table or desk. While LCDs typically
experience a 55 percent or greater decrease in Brightness at a 30 degree
Viewing Angle, the OLED Galaxy Note7 display shows a much smaller 21 percent
decrease in Brightness at 30 degrees. This also applies to multiple
side-by-side viewers as well, and is a significant advantage of OLED displays.
The Color Shifts with Viewing Angle are also relatively small. See the Viewing
Angles section for measurements and details.

Viewing Tests

The three calibrated Standard Screen modes provide very
nice, pleasing and very accurate colors and picture quality. Although the Image
Contrast is slightly too high (due to a slightly too steep Intensity Scale),
the very challenging set of DisplayMate Test and Calibration Photos that we use
to evaluate picture quality looked absolutely stunning
and Beautiful, even to my experienced hyper-critical eyes.

For indoor and low ambient light viewing use the Basic screen mode for viewing most standard consumer
content including digital camera, TV, internet, and computer content, including
photos, videos, and movies, and also for your online purchases in order to see
accurate product colors. Use the AMOLED Photo screen
mode to view high-end digital camera photos that are based on the Adobe
RGB Gamut, and use the AMOLED Cinema screen mode
for viewing the newest DCI 4K Ultra HD TV and Digital Cinema content and
videos, including HDR content. The Adaptive Display
screen mode has significantly more vibrant and saturated colors. Some
people like that. It is also recommended for viewing in medium to high levels
of ambient light because it offsets some of the reflected light glare that
washes out the image colors.

Display Related Enhancements

· The Galaxy
Note7 is IP68 water resistant in up to 5 feet of water for up to half an hour,
which means you can comfortably view the display in typical wet indoor and
outdoor conditions – even carefully use it in a tub or shower, and it should be
fine if you accidentally drop it in a sink or toilet.

· The Galaxy
Note7 can be used with polarized sunglasses in both the portrait and landscape
orientations unlike LCDs, which generally work in only one of the two
orientations.

· The Galaxy
Note7 has the new Gorilla Glass 5, which provides much higher resistance to
breakage.

· The Galaxy
Note7 accepts a microSD card, which makes it easier to add large photo and
video files.

· The Galaxy
Note7 has a 17 percent larger 3,500 mAh battery compared to the 3,000 mAh battery
on the Galaxy Note5, which should significantly increase the running time on
battery.

Galaxy Note7 Conclusions: A Very
Impressive Smartphone Display…

The primary goal of this Display Technology Shoot-Out
article series has always been to publicize and promote display excellence
so that consumers, journalists and even manufacturers are aware of and appreciate
the very best in displays and display technology. We point out which
manufactures and display technologies are leading and advancing the
state-of-the-art for displays by performing comprehensive and objective
scientific Lab tests and measurements together with in-depth analysis. We point
out who is leading, who is behind, who is improving, and sometimes
(unfortunately) who is back pedaling… all based solely on the extensive
objective careful Lab measurements that we also publish, so that everyone can judge
the data for themselves as well…

The Conclusions below
summarize all of the principal test results. See the main Display
Shoot-Out Comparison Table for the complete DisplayMate Lab measurements
and test details, and the Results
Highlights section above for a more detailed introduction and overview with
expanded discussions and explanations.

OLED Display Evolution

What is particularly significant and impressive is that
Samsung has been systematically improving OLED display performance with every
Galaxy generation since 2010, when we started tracking OLED
displays. The first notable OLED Smartphone, the Google
Nexus One, came in decidedly last place in our 2010 Smartphone
Display Shoot-Out. In a span of just six years OLED display technology is
now challenging and even exceeding the performance of the best LCDs. The Galaxy
Note7 continues the impressive improvements in OLED displays and technology.

The Best Smartphone Display

The Galaxy Note7 provides many major and important state-of-the-art
display enhancements, with mobile OLED display technology now advancing faster
than ever. The Galaxy Note7 is the most innovative and high performance
Smartphone display that we have ever tested. It leapfrogs the displays on the
Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S7 to become the Best Performing Smartphone Display
ever.

The Galaxy Note7 has the following enhanced state-of-the-art
display performance functions and features:

We review each of them in the Performance
Summary below.

· A curved
screen OLED display that is manufactured on a
flexible plastic substrate so that it can bend around corners on both sides of
the phone to provide two curved edge display areas that can be viewed and
controlled from both the front or the sides. The curved screen was available as
an upgrade from a flat screen in earlier Note models – now everyone gets a
curved screen.

· 4 Color Gamuts and Screen Modes.

· A new wide DCI-P3 Color Gamut and Digital Cinema mode that is used on 4K Ultra HD TVs, so the Galaxy Note7
can display the latest high-end 4K video content. The DCI-P3 Gamut is 26
percent larger than the Rec.709 Gamut that is used for 2K Full HD TVs.

· A new HDR High Dynamic Range video mode that is used on 4K Ultra HD TVs, plus aVideo Enhancer that provides HDR-like Expanded
Dynamic Range for all videos that don’t have HDR coding.

· A record high Peak Brightness
of over of 1,000 nits, which improves screen visibility in very high Ambient
Light, and provides the very high screen Brightness needed for HDR.

· The first Smartphone to have both front and back Dual Ambient Light Sensors for significantly improved
Automatic Brightness.

· A new Blue Light Filter mode
that allows the user to adjust and reduce the amount of blue light from the
display for better night viewing.

· A new and even stronger curved Gorilla
Glass 5 protecting the display.

· The Always On Display mode and
Personalized Auto Brightness Control that were
first introduced on the Galaxy S7.

· A very high
resolution 2560x1440 Quad HD display with very high 518 pixels per inch, and
Diamond Pixels with Sub-Pixel Rendering.

· Almost every
display lab test and measurement shows some improvements compared to the Galaxy
Note5 and Galaxy S7.

The Best Smartphone Display

The Galaxy Note7 delivers uniformly consistent all around
Top Tier display performance and receives All Green
(Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories
(except for a single Yellow in Brightness Variation with Average Picture Level
that applies to all OLED displays). See the main Display
Shoot-Out Comparison Table for all of the measurements and details. So the Galaxy Note7 becomes the Best Performing Smartphone
Display that we have ever tested.

Galaxy Note7 Display Performance Summary

Below we summarize some of the major display performance highlights for
the Galaxy Note7.

One
very important capability of the Galaxy Smartphones that is often overlooked by
many consumers and reviewers, is the set of 4 user selectable Screen Modes that
are available under Display Settings, with 3 of them accurately calibrated to
industry Standard Color Gamuts. Most Smartphones and Tablets only provide a single fixed
factory display Color Gamut and color calibration, with no way for the user to
alter it based on personal preferences, running applications, or Ambient Light
levels. Samsung has implemented Color Management for their OLED Smartphones and
Tablets allowing them to provide multiple Screen Modes with different Color
Gamuts and color calibrations – other Smartphones only provide a single fixed
screen Color Gamut and color calibration.

Four Selectable Screen Modes
and Color Gamuts

The Galaxy Note7 has four user selectable Screen Modes: Adaptive Display, AMOLED
Cinema, AMOLED Photo, and the Basic Screen Mode, which matches the Standard sRGB /
Rec.709 Color Gamut that is used for producing most current consumer content.
This Figure shows the
different Color Gamuts on the Galaxy Note7. Color
Management with multiple and varying Color Gamuts are a very useful and
important state-of-the-art capability that all manufacturers will need to
provide in the future. All of the recent Galaxy models including the Note7 have
this important capability– see the Next
Generation of Mobile Displays section below.

Very Accurate Colors for Each
Screen Mode

We carefully measure the Absolute
Color Accuracy for each of the Screen Modes using an advanced series of
spectroradiometer measurements with 41 Reference
Colors that provide a detailed map of the Color Accuracy throughout the
entire Color Gamut for each Screen Mode. Absolute Color Accuracy is measured in
terms of Just Noticeable Color Differences, JNCD.
See this Figure for an
explanation and visual definition of JNCD and
the detailed Color Accuracy
Plots showing the measured Color Errors for the 41
Reference Colors for each Screen Mode and Color Gamut. Like all recent
Galaxy OLED displays, the Galaxy Note7 has all Green (Very Good to Excellent)
Ratings for both the Average and Maximum Color Errors in the Color
Accuracy section. See our detailed Absolute Color Accuracy Plots
with 41 Reference Colors for the 3 calibrated
screen Modes and also this regarding Bogus Color Accuracy
Measurements.

New Wide DCI-P3 Color Gamut AMOLED Cinema Screen Mode

The Galaxy Note7 has the newest Industry Standard Wide
Color Gamut, Digital Cinema Initiative
(DCI-P3), which is being used in 4K Ultra HD TVs and in Digital Cinema for the
movie industry. So the Galaxy Note7 can display the latest high-end 4K video
content. The DCI-P3 Gamut is 26 percent larger than the Rec.709 Gamut that is
used for 2K Full HD TVs, both are compared in this accurately colorized Figure.
The larger DCI-P3 Color Gamut and wider range of more saturated colors are also
useful in many advanced imaging applications, and for providing an Expanded Dynamic Range (below). The Galaxy Note7
AMOLED Cinema screen mode has a very accurate 97 percent of the DCI-P3 Standard
Gamut, and a very accurate 2.8 JNCD Absolute
Color Accuracy, which is very likely considerably better than your living room
4K Ultra HD TV. Select the AMOLED Cinema Screen Mode
using Display Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the Galaxy
Note7.

New HDR High Dynamic Range for Mobile Videos

High Dynamic Range
(HDR) is the newest performance enhancement feature developed for the latest 4K
Ultra HD TVs. HDR expands the Color, Contrast, and Brightness of video content
using an advanced image processing engine. In order to provide HDR, the Galaxy
Note7 has the necessary Digital Cinema DCI-P3 Wide Color Gamut, plus perfect
Blacks and an Infinite Contrast Ratio from its OLED display, and a peak
Brightness of over 1,000 nits that is needed for High Dynamic Range. The Galaxy
Note7 can play the latest streamed mobile HDR videos, and its built-in video
processor also allows it to provide an Expanded
Dynamic Range for standard video content that produces an HDR-like
effect.

Basic Screen Mode for Most
Standard Consumer Content

Most existing consumer content for digital cameras, HD
TVs, the internet, and computers, including photos, videos, and movies is a
dual standard called sRGB / Rec.709, which is supported by the Galaxy Note7
Basic screen mode. The Galaxy Note7 Basic screen mode has a very accurate 104
percent of the sRGB / Rec.709 Standard Gamut, and a very accurate 2.9 JNCD Absolute Color Accuracy, which is very
likely considerably better than your living room HDTV and laptop or computer
monitor. Select the Basic Screen Mode using Display
Settings – it is not the default screen mode for the Galaxy Note7.

Adobe RGB AMOLED Photo Screen
Mode

Most high-end digital cameras have an option to use the Adobe
RGB Color Gamut, which is 17 percent larger than the standard sRGB / Rec.709
Color Gamut used in consumer cameras. The Galaxy Note7 AMOLED Photo screen mode
has a very accurate 100 percent of the Adobe RGB Standard Gamut, and a very
accurate 3.2 JNCD Absolute Color Accuracy,
which is rarely available in consumer displays. It is very useful for viewing
high-end digital photos and other advanced imaging applications. This is a
significant plus for serious photography enthusiasts. Select
the AMOLED Photo screen mode using Display Settings – it is not the default
screen mode for the Galaxy Note7.

Adaptive Display Screen Mode
with the Widest Color Gamut

The native and widest Color Gamut on the Galaxy Note7 is
the Adaptive Display screen mode that has significantly more vibrant and
saturated colors, with 132 percent of the
Standard (sRGB / Rec.709) Color Gamut, among the highest that we have ever
measured for Smartphones and Tablets. Some people like the extra saturated and
vibrant colors, plus it is useful for special applications and is recommended
for viewing in medium to high levels of ambient light because it offsets some
of the reflected light glare that washes out the on-screen image colors. Select the Adaptive Display screen mode using Display
Settings – note that Adaptive Display is the factory default screen mode for
the Galaxy Note7.

New Blue Light Filter for Better Night Viewing

The Blue Light Filter mode on the Galaxy Note7 is
designed to change the color balance of the display in order to reduce the
amount of Blue light produced by the display, which some recent research
indicates can affect how well users sleep afterwards. In a separate article we have
explained and analyzed the Blue Light issue for displays. The Galaxy Note7
includes a user adjustable slider (Filter Opacity) to vary the amount of Blue
light produced by the display and a timer that allows the Blue Light Filter to
be turned on and off automatically every day. The variation in the light
spectrum with the adjustable Blue Light Filter is shown in this Figure.

As the Blue Light
Filter Opacity setting is increased, the amount of Blue light emitted by the
display decreases. When that happens, White and all screen colors take on an
increasing yellowish tint and color cast. At the Middle setting the White Color
Temperature decreases to 4,400K, and at the Maximum setting down to 2,400K, the
Color Temperature of traditional incandescent lighting, which is yellowish.
With the Blue Light Filter turned On and the Opacity at its Maximum setting,
the Blue Light component from the Galaxy Note7 is reduced by 80 percent.
Turning down the screen Brightness will further decrease the amount of Blue
Light.

New Record 1,000+ nits Peak Screen Brightness and Highest Contrast in
High Ambient Light

Mobile displays are often used under relatively bright
ambient lighting, which washes out the image color saturation and contrast,
reducing picture quality and making it harder to view or read the screen. To be
usable in high ambient light a display needs a dual combination of high screen
Brightness and low screen Reflectance – the Galaxy Note7 has both. For most
image content the Galaxy Note7 provides over 480 cd/m2
(Luminance, which is a measure of Brightness sometimes called nits), comparable
or higher than most LCD displays in this size class. The measured Brightness on
the Home screen is even higher at over 520 nits.

The Galaxy Note7 screen Reflectance
is 4.6 percent, close to the lowest that we have ever measured for a
Smartphone. When the display Brightness is set Manually with the slider, it can
be adjusted to reach a maximum screen Brightness of up
to 639 nits, which is very impressive. But when Automatic Brightness is
turned On, the Galaxy Note7 produces up to an impressive record maximum screen Brightness of 1,048 nits in high Ambient Light, where
high screen Brightness is really needed – it is the
Brightest Smartphone display that we have ever tested. As a result of
its high Brightness and low Reflectance, the Galaxy Note7 has a Contrast Rating
for High Ambient Light, which quantitatively measures screen visibility and
image contrast under bright Ambient Light, that ranges from 124 to 228, also the highest that we have ever measured for any
Smartphone display. The much higher Peak Brightness of over 1,000 nits
is also used to provide High Dynamic Range HDR.

New Front and Back Dual
Ambient Light Sensors for Improved Automatic Brightness Settings

Other Smartphones and
Tablets have just a single Ambient Light Sensor on the front of the screen that
measures the amount of light falling on the front of the screen. When Automatic
Brightness is turned On, the display Brightness is adjusted based on this
single measured value. But that is only part of the story because the phone is
often in the shadow of your head, so the front light level is therefore often
lower there. However, your eyes are generally more adapted to the surrounding
ambient light level that is behind and around the phone, which needs to be
taken into account in setting the proper screen Brightness, particularly with
the most common back lighting situations that exist when holding the phone. The
Galaxy Note7 is the first Smartphone to have a second Ambient Light Sensor on
the back that also measures the surrounding ambient light behind the phone and
then uses both measured values to adjust the Brightness based on the front and
back lighting. The Galaxy Note7 Automatic Brightness Control has also been
enhanced to provide improved response and transition times with changing
ambient light levels to give your eyes more time to adjust to the new levels.

Interactive Personalized
Automatic Brightness Control that Works Well

The Galaxy Note7 has an
important interactive Personalized Automatic
Brightness Control that learns and stores the display brightness
settings that you make for varying ambient light levels, so from then on you
get your own customized personal visual brightness preferences instead of some
pre-programmed manufacturer settings found in other Smartphones, Tablets, and
TVs. When Automatic Brightness is turned On (under Display Settings), if you
adjust the Brightness Slider, the Galaxy Note7 will remember your setting along
with the current ambient light level that is measured by its Ambient Light
Sensor (ALS), which is located next to the front facing camera just above the
top of the display. From then on the Galaxy Note7 will automatically adjust the
screen Brightness by measuring the current ambient light level and then
adjusting the screen Brightness based on the settings you’ve previously made,
so you’ll get a customized screen Brightness setting that you’ve previously
trained it to produce for the current level of ambient light – and you can
continue to tweak and adjust it as needed.

Always On Display

The Galaxy Note7 has an Always On
Display mode that will show various personalized clock, calendar, status
messages, notifications and images on the main screen whenever the phone is off
(in standby), all day and all night, which can be done with very low power on
an OLED display with a black background because every
sub-pixel is independently powered. The OLED display produces an
illuminated main screen image 24 hours a day so you can always discreetly check
it with just a glance. It makes a great night clock for your bedside table.

The Future of OLED Smartphones

OLEDs have now evolved and emerged as the premium mobile Smartphone
display technology. There is no better confirmation of this than a series of
well founded rumors from a number of prominent publications that Apple will be
switching the iPhone to OLED displays in 2017.

OLED displays provide a number of significant advantages over LCDs
including: being much thinner, much lighter, with a much smaller bezel
providing a near rimless design, they can be made flexible and into curved
screens, plus they have a very fast response time, better viewing angles, and
an always-on display mode. Many of the OLED performance advantages result from
the fact that every single sub-pixel in an OLED display is individually
directly powered, which results in better color accuracy, image contrast
accuracy, and screen uniformity.

Because of their very flexible power management capabilities, OLEDs are
not only more power efficient than LCDs for most image content, but they now
deliver much higher peak Brightness than LCDs because of this. However, for
mostly all white screen content LCDs are likely to remain brighter and more
power efficient for a while. OLED displays are now manufactured on flexible
substrates, which allows the screens to be curved and rounded like on the
Galaxy Note7 and earlier Galaxy Edge and Galaxy Round
displays.

Apple’s rumored move to an OLED iPhone is simply a recognition of all of
the above, particularly as more and more competing Smartphones come with OLED
displays.

Improving the
Next Generation of Mobile Displays

The Galaxy Note7 has very
high 2560x1440 pixel resolution and 518 pixels per inch (ppi) display producing
images that look perfectly sharp (for normal 20/20 human vision) under all
normal viewing conditions, which always includes some ambient light that always
lowers the visible image contrast and perceived image sharpness (Modulation
Transfer MTF). Note that displays are almost never
viewed in absolute darkness under perfect viewing conditions with ideal image
content. Some clueless reviewers have been pining for 4K 3840x2160 Smartphones,
which would require more than double the pixels, memory, and processing power
of the 2560x1440 display on the Galaxy Note7, but there would be no visual
benefit for humans! As a result, it is absolutely
pointless to further increase the display resolution and pixels per inch (ppi)
for a marketing wild goose chase into the stratosphere...

With screen size and resolution
already functionally maxed out, manufacturers should instead dedicate their
efforts and resources into improving real world display performance in ambient
light by using advanced technology to restore and compensate for the loss of
color gamut, color saturation, and image contrast, something that every
consumer will benefit from, and will also immediately notice and appreciate – providing
a true sales and marketing advantage…

The most important improvements for both OLED and LCD
mobile displays will come from improving their image and picture quality and
screen readability in real world ambient light, which washes out the screen images,
resulting in reduced image contrast, color saturation, and color accuracy. The
key will be in lowering screen Reflectance and implementing Dynamic Color Management with automatic real-time
modification of the display’s native Color Gamut and Intensity Scales based on
the measured Ambient Light level in order to have them compensate for the
reflected light glare and image wash out including both loss of color
saturation and image contrast from ambient light as discussed in our 2014
Innovative Displays and Display Technology and SID
Display Technology Shoot-Out articles.

The displays, technologies, and
manufacturers that succeed in implementing this new real world high ambient
light performance strategy will take the lead in the next generations of mobile
displays… Follow DisplayMate
on Twitter to learn about these developments and our upcoming display
technology coverage.

DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology

All
Smartphone, Tablet, Monitor and TV displays can be significantly improved using
DisplayMate’s proprietary very advanced scientific analysis and mathematical
display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration,
and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement,
prototype development, display performance improvement and optimization,
testing displays to meet contract specifications, and production quality
control so that they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in
our public Display Technology Shoot-Out series for consumers. This article is a
lite version of our advanced scientific analysis – before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization
Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a
display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display
performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.

Galaxy Note7

Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table

Below we
examine in-depth the OLED display on the Samsung
Galaxy Note7based on objective Lab
measurement data and criteria

The display power was measured using a Linear
Regression between Luminance and AC Power with a fully charged battery.

Since the displays will have different screen sizes
and maximum brightness, the display power values below were also scaled

to the same screen Brightness (Luminance) and same
screen area in order to compare their Relative Power Efficiencies.

Comparison with LCDs

While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with
mostly full screen white content (like all text screens on a

white background, for example), OLEDs are more power
efficient for typical mixed image content because they are

emissive displays so their power varies with the
Average Picture Level (average Brightness) of the image content over

the entire screen. For OLEDs, Black pixels and
sub-pixels don’t use any power so screens with Black backgrounds are

very power efficient for OLEDs. For LCDs the display
power is fixed and independent of image content. Currently,

OLED displays are more power efficient than LCDs for
Average Pictures Levels of 65 percent or less, and LCDs are

more power efficient for Average Picture Levels above
65 percent. Since both technologies are continuing to improve

their power efficiencies, the crossover will continue
to change with time.

Comparison with the Galaxy Note5

Below we compare the Relative Display
Power Efficiencies of the Galaxy Note7 with the Galaxy Note5.

The Galaxy Note7 has the same Display
Power Efficiency as the Galaxy Note5. The results are scaled for the same Luminance.

The Galaxy Note7 has a 3,500 mAh
battery, which is 17 percent higher capacity than the 3,000 mAh battery on
the Galaxy Note5.

Since the display typically uses over 50
percent of the total Smartphone power, this should result in a longer running
time on battery.

Categories

Galaxy
Note5

Galaxy
Note7

Comments

Average Display Power

Maximum Brightness at

50% Average Picture Level

50% Average
Picture Level

0.95 watts

with 456
cd/m2

50% Average
Picture Level

1.05 watts

with 495
cd/m2

This measures the Average Display Power
for

a wide range of image content.

Relative Power Efficiency

50% Average Picture Level

Compared to Galaxy Note5

For the same 456 cd/m2

Relative Average Power
100%

0.95 watts

with same 456 cd/m2

Relative Average Power
102%

0.97 watts

with same 456 cd/m2

This
compares the Relative Power Efficiency

by
scaling the measured Display Power to the

same
screen Brightness and same screen area

as
the Galaxy Note5.

Maximum Display Power

Full White Screen

at Maximum Brightness

Maximum Power

Full Screen White

1.75 watts

with 412 cd/m2

Maximum
Power

Full Screen
White

1.80 watts

with 418
cd/m2

This measures the Maximum Display power
for

a screen that is entirely Peak White.

Relative Power Efficiency

Maximum Display Power

Compared to Galaxy Note5

For the same 412 cd/m2

Relative Maximum Power
100%

1.75 watts

with same 412 cd/m2

Relative Maximum Power
101%

1.77 watts

with same 412 cd/m2

This
compares the Relative Power Efficiency

by
scaling the measured Display Power to the

same
screen Brightness and same screen area

as
the Galaxy Note5.

About the Author

Dr. Raymond Soneira is
President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation of Amherst, New Hampshire,
which produces display calibration, evaluation, and diagnostic products for
consumers, technicians, and manufacturers. See www.displaymate.com. He is a research
scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television
system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from
Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal
Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell
Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television
broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development
Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in
physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any
comments or questions about the article, you can contact him at dtso.info@displaymate.com.

DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology

All
Smartphone, Tablet, Monitor and TV displays can be significantly improved using
DisplayMate’s proprietary very advanced scientific analysis and mathematical
display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration,
and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement,
prototype development, display performance improvement and optimization,
testing displays to meet contract specifications, and production quality
control so that they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in
our public Display Technology Shoot-Out series for consumers. This article is a
lite version of our advanced scientific analysis – before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization
Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a
display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display
performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.

About DisplayMate Technologies

DisplayMate Technologiesspecializes in proprietary advanced
scientific display calibration and mathematical display optimization to deliver
unsurpassed objective performance, picture quality and accuracy for all types
of displays including video and computer monitors, projectors, TVs, mobile
displays such as Smartphones and Tablets, and all display technologies including
LCD, OLED, 3D, LED, LCoS, Plasma, DLP and CRT. This article is a lite version of our intensive
scientific analysis of Smartphone and Smartphone mobile displays – before the
benefits of our advanced mathematical DisplayMate Display Optimization
Technology, which can correct or improve many of the display deficiencies. We offer DisplayMate display
calibration software for consumers and advanced DisplayMate display diagnostic
and calibration software for technicians and test labs.

For
manufacturers we offer Consulting Services that include advanced Lab testing
and evaluations, confidential Shoot-Outs with competing products, calibration
and optimization for displays, cameras and their User Interface, plus on-site
and factory visits. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement,
prototype development, and production quality control so they don’t make
mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our Display Technology Shoot-Out
series. See our world renown Display
Technology Shoot-Out public article series for an introduction and preview.
DisplayMate’s
advanced scientific optimizations can make lower cost panels look as good or
better than more expensive higher performance displays. If you are a display or
product manufacturer and want to turn your display into a spectacular one to
surpass your competition then Contact
DisplayMate Technologies to learn more.

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